UK Air Passenger Duty rises by a massive 8% – Airlines urge review

Air passenger duty (APD) has risen by 8%, as announced by the government in the Autumn Statement last year.

For short-haul flights, the tax has increased from £12 to £13. For long-haul flights of more than 4,000 miles, it has gone up from £85 to £92. In light of the increase, airlines called on the Treasury to review the impact on “hard working families”.

A Treasury spokesperson said the majority of passengers will only pay an extra £1 as a result of the rise. Also as of 1 April, corporation tax in the UK falls by 1% to 24%.

Air passenger duty (APD) has risen by 8%

The changes in APD will also see it extended to private business jets for the first time.

In a joint statement the bosses of Easyjet, British Airways owner IAG, Ryanair and Virgin Atlantic said the increase would “hit millions of hard-working families and damage the wider economy”.

“We urge [Chancellor] George Osborne to make APD the first tax to be examined under the Treasury’s new review of the wider impacts of taxation on the economy,” they said. They added that further planned rises in the tax before 2016 would mean a family of four paying £500 in tax to fly economy class to Australia. In 2005, they said, the same family would have paid £80.

The business group the CBI has also called for a lower rise in APD. The government defended the rise by saying it had frozen APD last year.

“The majority of passengers will only pay an extra £1 as a result of the rise,” a Treasury spokesperson said…..